Flash of rage
by thegirlwhocan
Summary: Wally puts a man in hospital in a rare show of anger from the good-natured speedster, angering the rest of the League when it throws their reputation on the line. But when they confront Flash about his actions, they learn more than they asked for.


**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or DC unfortunately, and I'm still relatively new to writing them, so be kind.**

* * *

**'Flash of rage'**

"I can't believe Flash would do this," Diana said, looking around at the cluster of faces in the room. An emergency League meeting had been called about three hours after news of the incident in Central City had broken, the faces staring back ranging from worried to angry to . . . well, Batman wasn't giving anything away, but that wasn't unusual. She frowned, "this isn't like him."

"Well, he obviously did," the Green Arrow pointed out frankly.

"But why?" she argued, "Flash doesn't hurt his villains at the best of times! Why would he go from that to – to-"

"Putting a man in hospital," Superman finished for her, seeing Diana wasn't able to complete the sentence. The Krytonian looked pained himself, but was resigned to the fact that this was going to be a problem. He sighed loudly, "Whatever reason, it still happened. The man is in critical condition still, I spoke to the doctor's an hour ago and they said he was lucky to be alive."

"Flash wouldn't do this," Green Lantern argued, crossing his arms. "Come on, Wally isn't capable of this! You all know it. This was a setup by the villains or something; no way would he hurt someone that bad."

"Maybe not, but all evidence points to this being legit," Cyborg pointed out. "I checked the security footage myself, there was no tampering."

"So it wasn't really him! It was -"

"Another person with superspeed and a perfect replica of a Flash suit? Yeah, because there's loads of them kicking about."

"Watch it," Hal growled, stepping up to get in Cyborg's face. "Nobody's talking crap about Wally, got it? There _will_ be an explanation for this."

"So why don't you stop arguing about motive we have no clue about like children and focus on finding Flash?" Batman finally spoke up, an edge of irritation in his voice. He would be the last to admit it, but he respected Flash. The speedster's control and optimism was actually one of the things he admired about the younger man, so Bruce was having a hard time believing the news, too. "We can't sort any of this out until we've_ found _him."

"That's not the easiest task, Bats," Green Arrow pointed out, "he's a speedster."

"Please," Hal scoffed, pulling out his phone and sending a quick text. "Twenty bucks says he ran straight to Nightwing."

A few people looked to Batman, who eventually huffed in acceptance, "it does seem likely."

There was a few minutes silence, a few Leaguers muttering among themselves not subtly enough about the young speedster and earning themselves glares from Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern. That was enough to shut up even the cockiest hero.

"Aha!" Hal cheered when he got a reply, grinning smugly, "told ya he'd be with 'Wingy."

"Will he come in?" Batman asked, ignoring the Lantern's nickname for his former protégée – just. It took a lot of self-restraint. "We need to start damage control as soon as possible; the media will be all over this. They'll probably try to have us outlawed again."

Black Canary snorted, "Yeah, 'cause that worked out so well last time."

"Di – Wingy says he'll coax him up here," Hal corrected himself quickly, flushing red at the resulting Batglare. The Lantern looked around the assembled Leaguers, "you guys lay off him when he gets here, okay? Or you'll have me to answer to."

"Threats aren't necessary, Lantern," Superman said in his most commanding voice, "no one's going to judge Wally. We just need to know what went down to we can fix it, and help him."

A few people towards the back of the crowd started muttering at that, words along the lines of 'we'd never get away with pulling a stunt like that' unfortunately being heard by Wonder Woman, who scowled and spoke up.

"Flash is a vital member of the Justice League, and more importantly he is our friend. Think back – I'll bet everyone here can name a time Flash has gone out of his way to help them," the silence answered her question, "he deserves our patience, and you_ will_ show him more respect. Understand?"

This time, nods and answers of 'yes ma'am' met her ears. All that was left was to wait for Flash to arrive.

* * *

Wally sat on the bed in Dick's room at Titans Tower, head buried in his hands. He knew he'd messed up big time – the League were slaughtered by the media at the best of times, so when they caught wind of him putting someone in hospital it would kick up another frenzy about restricting meta-humans, and that had been hard enough to deal with last time.

The integrity of the League would be called into question again too, and it was all his fault. Wally's stomach hadn't stopped churning since he realized what he had done, the banging in his head a persistent annoyance to break up his thoughts. He was kind of thankful for that; a lot of memories had been stirred up that morning. It was things he would much rather leave buried.

He felt awful. A thousand things kept nagging at him – he should leave the League, hang up his cowl, cry and eat thirty tubs of mint choc chip ice cream. That sounded like a plan. If only it was that simple.

"Batman's gonna kill me," he remarked when that particular thought crossed his mind, groaning aloud. "I'm too young to die."

Nightwing laughed from where he sat a few feet away on a chair with wheels. It was usually at the desk, but he had pushed it to the centre of the room to talk to his friend, close enough to offer hugs quickly if needed, or to stop Wally from bolting. That was still a possibility – if there was one thing he knew about speedsters, it was that they ran when they were upset. And he had only seen Wally this worked up a handful of times.

"Nah, he won't," he reassured his friend, "I wouldn't let him."

"He'll definitely kick me of the League. I should quit anyway, after this."

"Don't be ridiculous. The League needs you, Walls. You're the only one in the Watchtower with half a sense of humour; they'd go crazy on missions without you."

"But this is my fault!" Wally yelled, angry at the tears still leaking down his cheeks. His face was even redder than usual and he was practically pulling lumps out of his hair with stress. "I put that man in the hospital, Dick._ I_ did that. I shouldn't be a hero, we're supposed to help people, not hurt them!"

"This is different and you know it," Dick said, but was spared from saying anything when his phone buzzed in his pocket. Usually, he wouldn't be in his civvies at the tower, but he hadn't expected anything like this to happen until Wally had shown up, clearly distressed. It had taken Dick a lot of coaxing to get the speedster to sit and spill the story. He fished it out of his jacket pocket, finding a message from Hal, the Lantern clearly worried. When he sighed and looked up, Wally had already worked it out.

"They want me to go to the Watchtower so they can yell at me, don't they?"

"No one's going to yell," Dick promised, getting up and putting a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "Look, I know it's hard, but just tell them what you told me. They'll understand."

A red head nodded, the speedster getting to his feet sullenly and saying, "Just give me a minute, okay?"

Wally disappeared into the bathroom for a few minutes; when he came out it looked like he had tried to wash away the redness from around his eyes. Dick understood why he was trying to save face in front of the League, but it was still clear he had been crying.

"Wow," Wally stopped when he saw Dick was now in his Nightwing suit, "dude, you changed fast. I thought_ I_ was supposed to be the speedster."

"You're rubbing off on me," Dick answered automatically, grinning. He was relieved to see Wally making jokes again so quickly, it was a good sign. This incident would still take a lot of comfort eating for the speedster to get over, and he was sure they'd be spending a lot of time together for the next few days, but it was a start.

Wally actually grinned, but it was weak. "I told you, we've got to stop taking naps together."

"Cram it, Kid Idiot."

"Hey, I'm the Flash now!"

"But you'll always be a dorky little eleven year old in my heart," Dick teased, holding his hands in front of his chest and putting an arm around his friend. Wally snorted but didn't talk back, which was worrying, but they still trudged towards the ZetaTube.

Wally's heart sunk lower in his chest with every step, feeling like he was walking towards a death sentence.

* * *

When the Zeta announced the arrival of Nightwing and Flash, the League moved to the observation deck to meet them. A lot of faces watched the two heroes approach, noticing the slump to Flash's step, the fact he was even _walking_ a shock to a lot of people. Wally never could stay still and walk for long. But he looked depressed, his step not even having the trademark spring to it.

He stopped in front of them, sending them all a nervous look. "I really messed up, didn't I?"

"What happened?" Superman asked patiently, ignoring the rabble of questions which fired up immediately. They all fell silent after he had spoke, looking to the speedster for an answer.

"What do you know?" Wally asked in response, pulling his hood down to expose his face. Most of the League knew who he was anyway, and it was getting stuffy in there. He wanted to be able to look them all in the eye, too.

"Only that you stopped a man robbing the bank," Diana prompted gently, "but he was hurt pretty badly in the process. Did he resist arrest? Is he one of your Rogues?"

"No," Wally shook his head guiltily, taking a breath and looking at his feet.

"What?" Green Arrow spluttered, "So then why did you put him in hospital? You've really screwed us, kid. The media are saying we're violent and uncontrolled already."

"I know," he muttered desolately, "I'm sorry, guys."

"You're _sorry_?" Cyborg frowned, "we're about to be publically crucified for this, and you're sorry? That's not good enough!"

"Hey! I already told you once to back off," Hal interrupted furiously, moving to stand between Wally and the rest of the League. He held up a threatening finger, his body glowing green as his ring responded to his anger, "everybody shut up until we get the whole story. There's more to this, right Kid?"

He twisted his shoulder to look back at Wally, who was considering running away. It had been bad enough explaining to Dick, and he already knew everything – he _really_ didn't want to have to tell the story to the entire League.

"You're going to have to tell them," Dick prompted his friend, nudging him with his shoulder. He sent his friend a quick smile, but it was lost of Wally, who let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

"You didn't see what he was wearing when they brought him in, did you?" the speedster inquired, looking back up at the League. Even Hal fully turned to listen to him. A beat passed.

"He was wearing a suit like yours, but yellow," Cyborg eventually said. He was the only one who had seen the security footage so far. "So what?"

Wally's face got even sadder at that moment, if it were possible. Turning his gaze away from the rest of the League, he told the next part to Hal, who would understand. He shrugged and said quietly, "the guy was dressed like Zoom."

"Sonuvabitch," Hal cursed quickly, paling a few shades. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. After a moment, he turned and walked away a little, screaming a string of curses to himself.

The rest of the League was split straight away: those who had known Barry looked horrified, while the newer or younger members just muttered among themselves in confusion.

"I don't mean to sound ignorant," Power Girl put in apologetically, "but what's a Zoom?"

"Who, not what," Superman corrected. His eyes were sympathetic as he looked at the speedster now. "And he was a real piece of work."

"Was?"

"He . . . went away," Wally spoke up tiredly. He couldn't even cry anymore, he was just drained. "It was a long time ago, before I was Flash. Zoom was supposed to be gone for good, so when I walked into the bank and saw the suit, I just -"

"It's not surprising!" Hal shouted, walking back over, still fuming, "I would have done the same. Whoever's dumb enough to rob a bank dressed like Zoom is just asking for every hero in a hundred mile radius to tear him a new one."

"Why?" Booster Gold asked, "What did the guy do that was so bad?"

"He killed the last Flash," Diana filled in, when Hal looked like he was going to either be sick or punch someone. It was understandable – they all felt shaken. "Barry Allen, and his wife, Iris West. They were good people. If it had been the real Zoom, it would have meant trouble."

"I thought it was him," Wally confirmed, "if I had realized quicker that it wasn't him, just some low-life dressed up to throw me, I would have stopped a lot sooner. But I just saw red, and the next thing I knew the guy was in my hands, bleeding and . . . I screwed up. It was just a guy."

"Hey, they shouldn't play games like that;" Hal shook his head firmly, "even your Rogues wouldn't pull that. They know what Zoom means to you."

Wally didn't look convinced, "I still got the League in a lot of trouble."

"Is that all?" Batman pressed, "even if it was Zoom, the League does not condone the use of deadly force. By the sounds of it, you weren't holding back – if it were the real Zoom, you would have killed him."

"Yeah, I would have."

"Excuse me?" the dark knight blinked, not believing it. Surely Flash wouldn't really kill someone? But the look on the younger man's face said it all. It was easily to forget with all their joking that an angry Flash was more terrifying than any other League member, himself included.

"I said, I would have," Wally repeated, feeling a flicker of rage ignite again. He stood a little taller, "If Zoom ever comes back, I swear to God I'll kill him. Damn the League and its rules."

"That's unacceptable. Flash, you're officially on probation from the League."

Batman's words caused an uproar. The Green Lantern was shouting in his face in an instant, Superman pulling him away a little but also glaring at Batman. They clearly weren't happy – but rules were rules.

When he saw Flash again, Wally had walked a little closer, fuming now. Face to face with Batman, Wally whispered so only the other man could hear, "If it were the man who killed your parents standing in front of you, you'd do the same."

Bruce felt himself go red, not believing that Flash had brought up something so personal. Normally, he would keep his cool in any situation, but Flash had hit a nerve. Batman wasn't shouting, but his voice was loud and cold. "That's different. Barry wasn't your father -"

"He was as good as!" Wally yelled back, only stopped from punching Batman in the face when Nightwing appeared at his side, pulling him back. He knew mentioning Bruce's parent's wasn't a good idea, but he had just been trying to get the other man to understand. Now Bruce had not only been a hypocrite, but even the other League members looked appalled at him saying Barry wasn't Wally's father.

"How dare you!" Hal shouted, still being held back by Superman, "Barry and Iris raised him! He has every right to want their murderer dead. Barry was my best friend._ I_ want Zoom dead too."

Batman just repeated himself, "Killing is unacceptable."

"No," Wally shook Dick off, but didn't make another attempt to attack Batman. He stood in the centre of the chaos, which died down as he started to talk, voice audibly shaking. As he went on, tears started to pour down his face, "you want to know what unacceptable? Barry not being here. He should be alive, he should be Flash still and Iris should be reporting and they both should be breathing! Their entire lives, all they did was help people. And they died too young; Zoom took away their future." He choked out a sob, even Bruce starting to feel guilty under his cowl. Batman wasn't one to feel remorse, but Bruce couldn't help but feel for a fellow orphan. Wally just shouted on, throat raw as the twin streams on his face, "It's unacceptable that sometimes I have to watch old videos because I'm starting to forget what Barry's voice sounded like! Or that I had to become the Flash on my own, when he should have been here running beside me, like the old days. It's not fair how it ended for them when they _deserved so much better_."

Wally had fallen to his knees. A lot of the League was frozen in shock, never having seen Flash break down like that. Hal blinked back his own tears, kneeling next to him quietly.

"Okay Kid," the Lantern soothed, "Bats was being an asshole; no one blames you. It's going to be okay."

"No it's not, Uncle Hal. I miss them so much."

"I know," Hal nodded, putting a hand on Wally's shoulder. Of everyone, he understood it the best. Dick came close, having been friends with Wally since they were kids and knowing Barry as an uncle, but only the Lantern felt the loss of the old Flash as acutely as the man in front of him. Barry and Hal had been thick as thieves; the Flash's death had destroyed him. "I miss Barry too. But its okay, because me and you? We'll never forget him or Iris."

Wally sniffed, leaning against his surrogate uncle for support. He commented quietly, "he was always late for everything."

"Guess he passed that on to you," Hal joked, earning a small smile in response. Wally still looked utterly miserable. "Listen, Zoom's not coming back. He's not going to hurt you again."

"How could he?" the speedster replied, "He already took away everyone I loved. All I have left are you and Joan. I – I didn't mean to hurt that guy today, but I saw red when I thought it was Zoom. I couldn't bear the thought of him going after either of you."

"You never have to worry about that."

For a while, they were quiet, everyone watching Flash like he was a bomb about to detonate. The thing was with Flash was that he was so happy, so blissfully cheerful and supportive of everyone that it was easy to forget he had suffered, too. Not that Wally ever talked about his aunt and uncle – it still hurt too much. Only the old Leaguers who had known Barry even knew of his existence until now.

Eventually, Wally got to his feet. He looked defiantly across the League, "Listen, I'm sorry for what happened today. I know I reacted badly. But this isn't a joke – Zoom ruined my life in more ways than you know. But I'm _not_ going to go on probation, I'm not going to stop protecting_ my_ city – Barry wouldn't. He kept Central City safe until the end, and I intend to do the same. I learnt from the best."

"You're not on probation," Superman said, glaring at Bruce. Even Batman didn't argue the point this time, staying silent. "We'll deal with the damage, leave it to us. Maybe you should take the rest of the day off."

Wally nodded, looking at his feet again. When he looked up, his eyes were clearer, but painful to see. He looked broken. Nodding quickly to Superman and Hal, who looked terrible too, Wally took off. The Zeta took him to his city, and he was running the moment his feet touched the ground.

Within minutes, he was running too fast for any new tears to fall, and he kept running until he was sure they wouldn't return.

* * *

As soon as Wally left, Hal visibly sagged, putting his head in his hands. People were unsure what to do, standing about in shock of what they had just witnessed. Meltdowns happened once a week with all the stress they faced, but never Flash. In fact, he was usually the one picking people back up again.

"This Barry," Tim, the new Robin, spoke up. Some of the Titan's had followed Nightwing here, a lot of them never having heard of the elder speedster before now. He looked at his brother with curious eyes, "what was he like?"

"Barry?" Nightwing let out a small chuckle, but it lacked its usual humour, "he was the greatest. When Wally and I were kids we used to hang out at his house all the time, Barry was the coolest dad ever. He'd let us stay up all sorts of crazy hours and show us how to do science experiments in the kitchen."

Hal laughed at a particular memory of Dick and Wally accidentally blowing up the trashcan when he was babysitting because Barry had got called away on a mission. He looked over at Dick, hardly believing how much the two boys had grown, "Iris used to go mad at him, remember?"

"She used to say she was getting a divorce if he blew up the kitchen one more time," Dick nodded, "she never did, though."

". . . I didn't know he let you do that," Batman spoke up, sounding a mixture of nostalgic and angry.

"He knew what he was doing, it was never dangerous. He helped me pass a lot of my chemistry classes, actually."

"I didn't know that, either," Batman said. His voice was definitely guilty now. He waited a few seconds before confirming for Tim, "Barry Allen was a good man. A good hero."

It was as close as he would ever got to an apology for losing his head and yelling at Wally, but Batman shared a look with Hal briefly, both knowing he was sorry. It was all they needed to know they were okay again. It had been a stressful day for them all.

"Everybody liked Barry," Diana said with a smile, "he was the type of person everyone wanted to be – he was kind and humble, but he could laugh. Wally's a lot like him. They . . . they were a good team."

"Yeah," Dick grinned, "missions with the pair of them were always the best. We could be dying, and between them they'd still find a way to make me laugh."

"Never mind that," Hal chuckled, "most of the time we'd only be almost dying because one of them spoke back to a bad guy! They used to open their mouths at the worst time, the pair of them, and land us in even more trouble."

"Used to? Wally still does it!"

That got a small laugh. Assembled in the Watchtower, those who remembered the old Flash mourned Barry again, but were able to laugh at the good times, and those who never knew him wished they'd gotten the chance to. After a few minutes, however, their expressions all turned into frowns again.

"We should do something for Wally," Diana suggested, "this can't have been easy for him."

Hal was trying not to cry. It was bad for his image, but he had missed Barry a hell of a lot. Even after years, it still cut deep to even hear his best friend's name out loud. It was a scar he'd carry forever.

"I have an idea," he announced. "But I'm going to need a computer and a little help."

* * *

When Wally got summoned to the Watchtower a day after the incident, he had been almost passed out on his couch. All night, he had run. He had run dangerously fast, seeing the bright light of the speed force before he finally slowed down the last time. That had shaken him to reality.

Then he was left to lie on his couch feeling crappy and looking around the house which used to be theirs. Barry and Iris had lived there, with him – the only time he could remember being really, truly happy.

Thankfully, he was saved by a text before he could break down again.

Hal wanted him at the Watchtower urgently, so heaving himself up, Wally headed for the nearest Zeta Tube. What he didn't expect to see was most of the League, old and new, waiting for him when he arrived, all camped out facing the big screen on the main deck with – were those bean bags?

He frowned, eyes drifting to the screen – and he froze. The paused screen showed Barry Allen, smile on his face as he looked at the camera.

Wally looked at his friends, "w-what's . . . ?"

"Sit," Hal instructed, pointing to an empty chair at the very front of the group, in between him and Dick. The Lantern's voice left no room for argument, so Wally stumbled his way over and collapsed into the seat, still shocked into silence. When he looked for an explanation, Hal went on, "I can't bring them back – I wish I could, but I can make sure you never forget them. Not their faces, not their voices – nothing."

"Besides," Dick cut in when his friend looked on the edge of tears again, gesturing to the many, many faces gathered, "All the kids wanted to know about him. We're not the only one's who'll remember Barry: he can still inspire people like he did us. He'll be a legend."

"I-" Wally swallowed quickly, "thank you."

"Don't start crying, or I will too," Hal warned, nodding towards his nephew. It was said lightly, but they both knew it hurt him just as much. "Okay – movie time."

Wally had no idea how they'd managed it, but the League had managed to piece together enough clips and short videos taken over the years to create a pretty decent home movie. He didn't even remember half of it being taken, but laughed aloud to hear his Uncle's voice loud and clear in the first clip, guiltily try to explain that he'd burnt through a pair of shoes again to Iris. It brought a few tears to the audience's eyes.

For the next few hours, they watched the images play out on the giant screen. They laughed at Barry and Hal goofing about on missions (where that footage came from was the biggest mystery), they cried at Barry and Iris' wedding video, people talked interestedly when a few recordings of Iris reporting on TV were shown; the first time a video of baby Wally and Dick showed up, a few people squealed with laughter.

Over the videos, the League saw Wally grow from a child, to a sidekick, to a gangly teenager. The video stopped just before Barry's death, so they didn't actually see Wally take up his mentor's mantle, but it was clear why he had – every video with the two of them together, the redhead looked at the Flash like he was his hero, whether Barry was in costume or not.

By the end, Wally had tears in his eyes and a smile on his face, looking at the awed faces around him. Barry Allen would be remembered as a hero, he intended to make sure of that. It might have been a bad day yesterday, but right then it was good. He would always miss them, but Wally had family all around him still, and now he had a way to remember the best of times.

* * *

**A/N: so there you go! I was thinking about writing a Wally centric YJ fic, so please review and let me know what you think! **


End file.
